The present invention relates to a bucket insert, and, more particularly, to an insert that can be utilized in most any mop bucket application to capture dirty excess water and/or clean water during the mopping procedure.
In a floor cleaning operation, a mop and mop bucket are usually involved. A wringer is typically mounted to a mop bucket to wring the liquid from a wet mop. During the cleaning operation, the mop is dipped into a washing liquid contained in the bucket and moved around the floor to remove dirt from the floor. To provide continuous cleaning, the mop must be wrung repeatedly with the wringer and rewetted by dipping it into the washing liquid. The dirty liquid squeezed from the mop conventionally is returned to the clean washing liquid. Thus, the washing liquid in the bucket is quickly contaminated.
Devices have been developed to overcome this disadvantage. One of the reference discloses a device for collecting dirty washing liquid and for containing clean liquid for wetting a floor cloth for washing floors. The device includes a main container which supports a wringer and defines a compartment for collecting the liquid produced by wringing the floor cloth, and a secondary container or insert which is mounted to the top portion within the main container and contains clean washing liquid for wetting the floor cloth. Thus, the clean washing liquid is separated from the dirty liquid contained in the main container.
Although this device provides the advantage of separating the dirty fluid from the clean fluid, it has disadvantages. Because of its configuration, the insert can only fit certain buckets specifically designed to receive the insert. Because the insert is mounted to the top portion of the bucket and is used to contain the clean washing liquid, the entire system is not very stable when first commencing the cleaning process as the washing liquid contained by the insert tends to raise and off-center the center of the mass. Moreover, there is no room for keeping the mop because the insert is not deep enough and it is not desirable to keep the mop in the dirty liquid of the main container.
Another prior art reference discloses a bucket having reservoirs for segregating the clean washing liquid from dirty washing liquid. The bucket contains a discharge transfer compartment with holes in its bottom wall for wringing a mop and draining the dirty liquid into a discharge storage reservoir which is located beneath the discharge transfer compartment and occupies the whole lower portion of the bucket. The floors of the discharge transfer compartment and the clean liquid reservoir are shaped with adequate slope or curvature so that the particulate material discharged from a mop is caused to move to the lowest point for removal. This bucket however does not use a disposable insert. Instead, a discharge transfer compartment and a discharge storage reservoir are used. Because they are fixedly mounted and contain holes and curvatures, it is not convenient to clean the bucket.
Yet another reference discloses a bucket provided with a squeeze plate for squeezing a sponge mop. The bucket has an inner bucket for containing clean washing liquid and a separate container for receiving a filter and the dirty liquid drained through the filter. The separate container or insert has a fixed size and shape determined by the dimensions of the filter and the squeeze plate, therefore it cannot be used for other types of buckets and mops.
Another reference discloses a pliable mop bucket insert that is pushed against the side walls of the bucket. The insert is removably attached to the bucket and used to collect the dirty liquid while the bucket contains the clean liquid. The entire insert is placed in the bucket thereby reducing the volume of liquid that can be used in the bucket and requiring the user to refill the bucket more frequently.
A recent reference provides a bucket insert having a container body with a lower and an upper portion, the upper portion having a larger volume than the lower portion. The lower portion of the bucket insert is inserted into a bucket and the upper portion is arranged to extend laterally over the lower portion and to receive a wringer device. This arrangement allows the insert to retain a larger volume while still not greatly reducing the volume of the wash bucket. The bucket insert includes a hook member operatively connected to the container body for connection to the bucket.
Thus there is perceived a need for a simple, practical, flexible and improved mop bucket insert that will allow clean water, when introduced, to push the insert toward the back of the mop bucket and, when dirty water is inserted therein, push the clear water back toward the front of the bucket. It is to this perceived need that the present invention is directed.